One of my first realized public projects in New York City was a two-month temporary installation at Liberty Plaza in the financial district, in 1997.  The garden is an insertion of glowing topiaries set into an existing plaza with a grove of locust trees. 

 

The project was conceptualized as an ephemeral winter garden, a hybridization of a French topiary garden and a Japanese Zen garden.  Installed in time for the winter solstice, the project lasted through the brief winter holiday season, bringing light, mystery and pleasure to the shortest days of the year.

 

Sixteen 16-foot tall cones were placed over existing “lollipop” lampposts in the plaza, and one 24-foot tall cone was placed in the center.  In addition to the existing lights, supplemental fluorescent lights were placed inside for special effect illumination.  I collaborated with lighting designer Jim Conti, the first of many collaborations with him since.

 

The project’s large-scale cone-shaped topiary lanterns formed a garden space located in the midst of a crowded urban setting.  The sculptural forms and integrated sound and light environment, created an ambient landscape with a pervasive spatial quality of enclosure through use of a limited material palette and minimalist geometry.  Even though the cones, sound and lights were stationary, an animation of perceptual change was created as people moved through the installation, experiencing spatial shifts in color and sound, from east to west, north to south as they altered their points of view.  Time of day also affected the color perceptions and the sounds of the city affected the perceptions of the project’s sound environment.

 

Eight of the cones near the center of the installation were equipped with electronic sound devices creating a barely audible sound space; in addition, 250 wind chimes placed throughout the canopy of the trees created air music for a pervasive soundscape effect.  The cones were manufactured using backlit vinyl awning fabric and awning fabrication techniques.